04 May 2023, 16:43
Karachays mark national revival day amid restrictions
This year, the revival day of the Karachay people was marked without a march and horse races, justifying this fact with the situation in the country and security concern, activists have informed. In their turn, historians have pointed out that although from the formal viewpoint the Karachays have been fully rehabilitated, the process cannot be considered complete.
Authorities of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) declared May 3 a non-working day in the republic in connection with the 66th anniversary of the return of the Karachay people to their historical homeland from deportation places.
The deportation of Karachays was launched in the USSR on November 2, 1943, when a total of 69,267 persons were evicted. In total, 79,000 Karachay nationals were deported during the pre-war period and the wartime. Most of the repressed people – over 43,000 in total, including 22,000 children – perished on the way in resettlement places. On May 3, 1957, the first Karachay families returned to their homeland.
Fatima Totorkulova, a former member of the KChR's Public Chamber, believes that historical memory is important, but much has changed over the years. "Of course, it was a mistake – the eviction of an entire people. Both authorities and people make mistakes. But everything is the will of Allah. Our nation has returned and revived. Maybe it's even time to forget a lot," she has stated.
Karachays were rehabilitated to a greater extent than some other repressed nations, Pavel Polyan, a historian, has noted.
In his turn, Yan Rachinsky, the head of the "International Memorial"**, is sure that it is possible to talk about the completeness of rehabilitation if there are materials about all the deportees. "The most complete memory book was published only in Kalmykia ... In Chechnya, there are lists of deportees, but there are no such data in the KChR," he has added.
It is unacceptable to treat the rehabilitation of the Karachay people as completed when the work of the Commission for the Rehabilitation of the Karachay People under the KChR's Government (stopped in 2009) has not yet been resumed, the Congress of the Karachay People has stated.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Naim Suleimanov Source: СK correspondent
